Vote Early. Real Early

Months before the major parties decide who should become Connecticut’s next governor, you can cast an early vote — and in the process challenge our winner-takes-all electoral system.

Dozens of candidates have emerged to seek to succeed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who retires at the end of this year after two terms in office.

In May Democrats and Republicans will hold conventions to endorse a candidate each, then some others will qualify for an August primary.

Some cities across the country have experimented with a different system: “ranked-choice” and “instant run-off” (IRV) elections. Voters select all the candidates they support in order of preference; then those results are tabulated to remove the lowest-scoring candidate in a series of rounds, with that candidates’ voters’ next picks redistributed to remaining candidates.

The idea is to give people a reason to vote. IRV and ranked choice are designed to offer more choices in each election, so people feel they can vote for one or more candidates rather than always vote against the lesser of two “evils” left standing when final choices appear on a general election ballot. (Here’s a fuller description.)

So let’s try it out.

We’ve embedded below a ballot on which we’ve listed the 22 candidates who have filed papers (for either “exploratory” or official campaigns) and made some public show of breathing and gathering money or support. You can list all the candidates you support in order of support. Then you can view round-by-round results as they evolve in coming weeks as other readers vote, too.

Below the ballot, we’ve also provided links to information about those candidates (and in some cases embedded radio interviews they’ve done on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven program) to help you make your choices.

Thanks to the organization OpaVote for designing and adapting this polling tool in collaboration with Independent webmaster Kyle Summer so we can embed it here. Thanks to Brandon Patton for finding the right tool and creating the poll.

Candidates

Poll Results

This is one of two test-votes for the governor’s race available to voters today. CT News Junkie launched a “March Madness” elimination-round poll for each party’s field. (Click here to vote in that one, too.)

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to comment

Comments

posted by: SparkJames on March 12, 2018 1:20pm

No real leftists running. Stupid. This is Connecticut. Not even Lembo! No more Dan Drew? Where’s that Chris Mattei guy?

bunch of corporatists, criminals, and republicans.

Where are the Greens? What good is instant Runoff if there are no idealists to vote for??

posted by: robn on March 12, 2018 1:24pm

What happened to Dita Bhargava?

[Paul: She decided to run for treasurer instead.]

posted by: Frank Columbo on March 12, 2018 2:19pm

Chris Mattie is running for Attorney General.

posted by: 1644 on March 12, 2018 3:46pm

Spark: After saying he was tired of sitting on the sidelines, and after positioning himself to the right of Malloy by voting against some bonding, Limbo decided the field was too dangerous and went back to the sidelines. He is running for re-election as Comptroller. Drew, of course, self-destructed by aggressively soliciting town employees for donations, and couldn’t even get the support of his DTC, which went to Susan B.

posted by: SparkJames on March 12, 2018 4:01pm

1644, You’ll blame real progressives like Dan Drew for their campaign errors, applaud a takeover of the local Dems by status quo politicians, and then happily elect Joe Ganim governor.

posted by: TWO-THIRDS on March 12, 2018 4:36pm

posted by: SparkJames on March 12, 2018 6:06pm

But if the results keep changing as your readers cast their votes on the poll, isn’t this in no wat how it will be implemented in real life?

Wouldn’t the best way to do this be

1) Announce the vote 2) give your readers a set amount of time to vote (a virtual Election Day of a week or so)

3) close voting

4) show results. And THEN show us how Instant Runoff voting systems are counted.

It appears you are operating this like one of those piegraph polls where we immediately see the results before voting is concluded… which is unethical. (Similar to Hillary permanently having a 600 delegate lead over Bernie even though no votes were cast. Spoils the outcomes.)

posted by: 1644 on March 12, 2018 6:16pm

Spark: I am a Republican, so I really don’t care much about internal Democrat politics. As for Ganim, were I King of the World, he would not be able to vote, much less hold office. I did like Lembo. Of the Dems, I like Harris, as West Hartford is a well-run town. Of the Republicans, no one has excited me. Boughton has a good manner, and experience.

posted by: Callisto on March 12, 2018 6:27pm

like a Batman line-up

posted by: 06511 on March 12, 2018 11:11pm

As a progressive, I find this field depressing as hell.

posted by: Elmer Shady on March 13, 2018 2:44am

This is a BS article.

3/5th’s didn’t even have the will to comment on this pandering to lack of process…...

It won’t be Ganim. It will be another Republican.

posted by: Tessa Marquis on March 13, 2018 10:21am

Pooh Pooh to the nay-sayers. I thought this was Fun.

The only way to vote for real is to join one of the “Parties” and then hope they like you enough to make you a delegate (or an alternate - sometimes people get tired and go home early).

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on March 13, 2018 12:31pm

posted by: Elmer Shady on March 13, 2018 2:44am

This is a BS article.

3/5th’s didn’t even have the will to comment on this pandering to lack of process…...

It won’t be Ganim. It will be another Republican.

You must not know me well.I always have the will.For some reason I was lock out.Try to write this.

When it comes to politics, I’m not on the right side or the left side. Do you remember when they crucified Christ? There were someone on his left side, and someone on his right side, and they were both thieves. That’s the same way with politics, politics is madness——-BOB MARLEY

posted by: John R. McCommas on March 17, 2018 12:37pm

If I can’t understand it, I don’t like it! I am supportive of a run-off election where the two biggest vote getters square off in another election like they have down South. —If one person does not reach 50 percent. THAT I understand. This gobbledygook, I don’t. Further I am very suspicious something this complicated won’t be manipulated by the partisan rats nests we have in the Secretary of the State and the Connecticut Election Enforcement Commission.